Magazine-camera



(No Model.)

J. L. ATWATER.

MAGAZINE CAMERA.

No. 595,591 Patented Dec. 14,1897.

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UNirnn STATES A'TENT Erica.

ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE VIVE CAMERA COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MAGAZIN E CAWE SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 595,591, dated December 14, 1897. Application filed February 27, 1897. Serial llTo. 626,260- (No model.)

To a whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN L. ATwA'r R, a citizen of the United States, residing in West ern Springs, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Photographic Hand-Gameras, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of handcameras in which a magazine of plate-holders is provided, the plate-holders being compressed in a body against a shoulder and so arranged that through a flexible changingcuff the foremost plate may be shifted to the rear and an unexposed plate brought into position for exposure, the changing-cuff being connected to the camera-box and its lid in such manner as to afford ready access to the plate-holders and permit of manipulation of the same in a light-tight chamber; and the present invention consists in adding to such a camera-box a simple, cheap, and effective device for making the plate holders as a whole bodily adjustable to and from the lens for changing the focus. This is done by means of mounting the plate-holders in a thin sheet-metal shell of peculiar construction contained in the camera-box and movable therein by means of an adjusting device, as will be more fully hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, and in which similar letters of reference indicate like parts in the several views, Figure 1 represents a perspective view of the exterior of a camera-box. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central vertical section of the same, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the movable sheet-metal. casing.

In said drawings, A is the light-tight rigid camera-box, provided with the cover A and flexible changing-cuff A the whole constituting a rectangular light-tight box.

B is a plate of sheet metal cut and stamped up into the form shown at Fig. 3that is to say, having a bottom piece and two upright sides B B. At B B the ends of the uprights are folded or turned inward to form shoulders, and projections B B are formed in the said uprights adjacent to said shoulders B The space between the shoulders B and projections B constitutes a groove, into which is slipped a wooden end or backing plate 13. (See Fig. 2.) This backingplate 13' carries a spring 13. At a suitable distance in front sufficient to accommodate the required number of plate-holders other projections B are formed in the uprights B to constitute a shoulder against which the plate-holders are pressed by said spring and forming the focal plane. On the bottom of the shell is a rack or racks B and in the vertical sides opposite thereto I cut slots B 13 horizontally. A pinion or pinions B mounted on a shaft B engages these racks, the ends of the shaft having bearings in the camera-box, and one end being fitted with a key or index-finger B and the camera-box adjacent thereto being provided with an indexare 13 which may be marked with an index of focal distances.

The operation is as follows: The shell, with its wooden backingplate and spring, is placed loosely in the camera-box, so that it shall be free to move backward and forward. The shaft, with its gear and turning key or finger, is then inserted and the camera is ready for use. Then the magazine is filled with plateholders and the movable shell is in the position shown at Fig. 2, the foremost plate of the series is in the plane of infinite focus of the lens. To adjust the foremost plate to a different focus, the index-finger is turned, rotating the cog-pinion, which moves the shell back from the lens and carries the plate to the required position indicated by index-arc.

The construction is such that the solidity, compactness, and light-tight character, as well as the means of attachment of the flexible changing-bag and its cooperative lid, are not in any manner interfered with by the addition of the movable shell, while at the same time this movable shell is of such form and nature that it may be very cheaply made by simply stamping it out of sheet metal and bending it up to form. This gives as a whole a camera of very cheap and simple construc tion, capable of taking a large picture relatively to the size of the camera-box, one in which the plates may be easily changed, and one in which the focus may be set as required arbitrarily from the exterior.

1. The combination with the rectangular a spring, and formed with a shoulder at each side for the plates to abut against, and means for moving said shell to and from the lens from the exterior, said means consisting of a rack on the bottom of the shell, a shaft extending through the camera-box and the shell, and an exterior key or index-finger and an index-plate, substantially as specified.

JOHN L. ATWATER.

Vitnesses:

II. M. MUNDAY, S. E. CURTIS. 

